


Now that you're here, I never want you to leave

by wearetheluckyones



Category: BBC Radio 1 RPF, Little Mix (Band), One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Anal Fingering, Anal Sex, Blowjobs, Bottom Nick, Drummer Louis, M/M, Radio DJ Nick, Top Louis, handjobs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-30
Updated: 2017-10-30
Packaged: 2019-01-26 15:37:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 17,750
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12560620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wearetheluckyones/pseuds/wearetheluckyones
Summary: “You like him,” He sing-songs, tugging off the pasta container’s lid.“Go fuck yourself.” Nick tells him as he finds plates, no actual bite behind his words. “Did you get the extra garlic bread? You ate it all last time.”“You gonna ask him out?” Harry asks, taking the two foil wrapped garlic breads from the bag and putting them on the counter.“I’m gonna give you the same answer I gave you last time you asked me that.”“You’re into him, he’s into you, what’s the big deal?” Harry asks, frowning, accepting the plate Nick hands him and dumping half the container of bacon and feta gnocchi onto it, and half the container of penne arrabbiata next to it. “You should just ask him out. There’s no harm in trying.”-*-*-Or, the one where Louis's a drummer, Nick's a radio DJ, and Louis's dogs are menaces.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [allwaswell16](https://archiveofourown.org/users/allwaswell16/gifts).



> My fic for the Tomlinshaw 2017 Exchange, based on two of the three prompts I received;
> 
> **Prompt #2:** _Nick meets his new neighbor, Louis, when he’s out walking his dogs and suddenly Louis’ dog bolts after them. Nick gets half dragged for blocks. Nick scolds Louis for not having better control of his dog. Could be canon if you’d like. Otherwise just a neighbors au. Maybe they live on the same floor of their building, so after this initial meeting Louis keeps coming over to his flat to borrow things, he locks himself out of his flat a lot and wants to wait it out at Nick’s, if he smells Nick cooking he invites himself for dinner. Louis is constantly coming over and annoying Nick about stuff but really it’s just because he wants his attention._
> 
> And,
> 
> **Prompt #3:** _Louis is a drummer in an up and coming band. They come in to Radio 1 for an interview and Nick gets really flustered by the extremely hot drummer that seems to be flirting with him on air._
> 
>  
> 
> Title is from It Ain't Easy by Ivy Levan.
> 
> Firstly, I would like to thank allwaswell16 for the amazing prompts, I had so much fun molding them into this fic. I'd also like to thank my friends, specifically Jess, Skye and Brahdilleone, who listened to me blabber on about this for _months_. But most of all I want to thank Ash, my lovely beta reader, who fixed all my grammar mistakes, listened to my bullshit, read both a chapter and an email I wrote while I was well pissed and probably made absolutely no sense, and gave me all the love and encouragement in the world. I think I'm kind of in love with you!
> 
> So, sit back, relax and enjoy.

By the time Nick gets out of the house to walk Pig and Stinky, the sun’s beginning to set in the sky, the blue beginning to roll into pinks and purples. It’s almost summer, Nick can feel it coming, racing towards London like a steam train; warm breezes, sunshine, baking, cherry blossoms and insects calling in the evening.

Regent’s Park on a Sunday is slow and quiet; a few joggers, a couple other dog walkers, some couples. It’s Nick’s favourite time to walk.

He takes the path from Primrose Hill to Queen Mary’s Gardens, turning onto the Inner Circle, towards St. John’s Lodge.

It happens when he’s passing the Hylas and the Nymph statue, texting Harry about Thai and wine and a _Reign_ marathon. One moment he’s right side up and the next, there’s a flash of white, black and brown, barking, and Nick’s legs are pulled out from under him and he’s upended into the pond the statue stands inside.

He’s left breathless and soaking wet, with algae all over his jumper, fight on the tip of his tongue as he struggles to stand and glares for the cause of the mess.

Pig and Stinky are on the path Nick had been on before he fell, but they’re not alone. There are two other dogs with them, a Dalmatian and a Cocker Spaniel, both puppies, no more than a few months old.

“Oh, shit, are you alright?”

Nick blinks up in the direction of the voice, shielding his eyes from the last remnants of the sun. There’s a man running towards him, small and curvy, with tan skin and caramel coloured hair. He stops at the edge of the pond, panting, and holds his hands out to Nick to help him out. Nick accepts the help and climbs out of the pond.

“I’m so, so sorry.” The man says, brushing algae from Nick’s clothes, picking a lily pad off of his jeans. “They saw your dogs and bolted. I lost my hold on their leads. I really am sorry.”

“You need to train your dogs better.” Nick snaps, wiping at his eyes, shivering. “Seriously.”

“I’m sorry.” The man says, frowning now, backing away from Nick a few steps. “They’re only puppies, they don’t know any better. They haven’t started puppy school yet.”

“Well, maybe you should keep a tighter hold on their leads.” Nick tells the man, picking up Pig and Stinky’s own leads.

“I said I was sorry.” The man replies, pouting out his bottom lip like a petulant child. “Look, I’ve got some towels in my car, and I can drive you home if you’d like?” 

Nick runs his fingers through his hair and frowns thoughtfully, looking the stranger up and down before nodding. “Alright, unless you’re a kidnapper.”

“If I was a kidnapper, would I tell you I was a kidnapper?” The man says, grin devilish.

“Point.” Nick agrees. “I’m only agreeing because my flat’s a twenty minute walk away, I’m soaking wet and it’s freezing. I’m still annoyed.”

The man begins to laugh, bright and loud and sharp like bells, then says, “Of course. I’m Louis.”

“Nick.”

“C’mon.” The man, Louis, begins, picking up his dog’s leads, jerking his head towards the park office. “My car’s on Chester Road.”

Nick follows Louis to the parking lot on Chester Road and waits by his Range Rover while Louis gets towels from the boot.

“I might have a jumper in here, too, if you want it.” Louis offers, pulling out a beige hoodie with a triumphant cry. “It’s Liam’s, so it should fit you.”

“Liam?” Nick asks, accepting the towels. He rubs one over his face and through his hair before handing it back to Louis.

“My best mate.”

Nick unzips his jumper, shivering again, and pulls off his shirt, too. He wonders if he’s imagining the appreciative look in Louis’s eyes as he watches Nick towel off his chest. 

He swaps the towel for the jumper and pulls it on, smiling at Louis and thanking him. The jumper smells like Old Spice and cigarette smoke. It kind of reminds Nick of Henry.

“Right, let’s go, then, yeah? Where am I taking you?” Louis asks, opening the back door and ushering the four dogs in before tugging on the passenger door for Nick.

Nick waits until they’re both in the car before he says, “Just drive up to Primrose Hill, St. Edmund’s Terrace.”

Louis turns on the ignition, laughing. “What a coincidence.”

“Hmm?”

“Never mind.” Louis answers, leaning over Nick to pull open the glove box, pulling out a packet of cigarettes, shutting it again. “D’you mind if I smoke?”

“Nah, I don’t mind. Long as I get one.”

Louis laughs and pulls two from the packet, putting it back in the glove box. He hands one to Nick and puts the other in his mouth, wriggling about until he can reach into his back pocket to pull out a lighter. Once the cigarettes are lit and the windows are down to let the smoke out, Louis pulls out of the parking lot.

“Are you cold?” Louis asks, pulling off of Chester Road onto the Outer Circle. “I can put the heater on if you’d like?”

“S’all good,” Nick replies, taking a drag of his cigarette, breathing it into his lungs. “I’m not all that cold anymore.” He finishes, blowing out the smoke. “Your dogs, what are their names anyway?”

“Oh, Belle’s the Dalmatian and Hazel’s the Cocker Spaniel. They’re both fifteen weeks old.” Louis answers, smiling into the rear view mirror. “I got them a couple weeks ago.”

“They might have pushed me into the pond, but I have to admit they’re kind of cute.” Nick admits, grinning at Louis.

“Excuse you, they’re the cutest.”

“I believe that honour goes to my dogs, thank-you-very-much.”

“You wish!” Louis laughs, turning to grin at Nick at a red light. “My mates have dogs. There are literal puppy piles, Nick. _Puppy piles_.”

“Pictures or it didn’t happen!”

At the next red light, Louis pulls his phone from his jeans, unlocks it and then spends a few seconds scrolling and pressing his fingers to the screen before handing it over to Nick.

In the photo is a good half dozen dogs, all asleep in a big puppy pile on an unmade bed; Louis’s two puppies, a Pug, a Pomeranian, a Poodle mix and a massive Great Dane they’re all cuddled into.

“There’s a whole group of us, me and my mates, and we were having a movie night at my old place,” Louis begins, driving again when the light turns green. “And at one point we realised all the dogs were missing. We searched all over the house until we found them in my housemate’s room. He was so pissed, he had Watson and Ralph, our other housemate’s dogs, the Great Dane and the Poodle cross King Charles Cavalier, trained not to go in, but the others must’ve persuaded them or summat.”

“Alright, that is pretty cute.”

Louis turns onto St. Edmund’s Terrace and says, “Which one’s yours, then?”

“That one over there.”

Louis’s grinning cheekily as he pulls into the driveway next to Nick’s, and before Nick can argue, he’s turning to Nick and saying, “Would you believe me if I told you that this is my flat.”

“You were the one who moved in last week?” Nick asks as Louis turns off the ignition. “The only person I saw come out of there was a girl. Your girlfriend?”

“Don’t have one. Did she have blonde hair, was she black or was she curvy?”

“Uh, black.”

“That was Leigh-Anne.” Louis answers, finishing his cigarette and opening the door to flick it out. “Definitely not my girlfriend. She’s engaged to a girl.”

They both hop out of the car and Nick stomps out his cigarette before collecting Pig and Stinky while Louis gets Belle and Hazel, meeting again at the boot so Nick can get his wet clothes.

“Thanks for the ride and the hoodie.”

Louis smiles. “Absolutely no problem at all. Sorry again about Belle and Hazel.”

Nick shrugs, smiling back at Louis. “They’re forgiven.”

“Don’t be a stranger, yeah?” Louis says, before they separate to their own houses. 

Nick tries desperately to pretend the feeling in his gut isn’t there, the butterflies – he’s a grown man, not a teenage girl with a crush – but it’s hard. No. He won’t be a stranger.


	2. Chapter 2

“In just half an hour, Complex Narcissism will be in the studio to talk about their new album, _Homecoming_ , which was out July 29th.” Harry says into the microphone across the table from Nick. “I’ve had their first single stuck in my head ever since the album came out. What about you Nick? Do you like it?”

“What was it? _Dance With Me_?”Nick asks, adjusting his headphones.

“No, the one before that, _Werewolves_.” Harry replies, writing something on the notepad in front of him.

“Oh, right, the one that came out in 2015?”

Harry laughs and takes a sip of his tea “If you’re anything like my co-host over here, you’ve probably forgotten that _Werewolves_ reached the top 50 in the UK and Australia, and the top 100 in the USA, back in 2015 when Complex Narcissism was Lunaria, and made up of Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne and Leigh-Anne Pinnock. Since then, they’ve changed their name, added two new members – Niall Horan and Perrie Edwards – and shifted their genre from pop punk to pop rock.” Harry says. “Why don’t we put on _Werewolves_ so Nick doesn’t embarrass himself when they arrive.”

“Oi!”

“Fat lot that’ll do!” Fiona jokes from the producer’s box, cackling like a witch.

Harry puts the song on and Nick turns his microphone off, swinging his chair around to face the intern; a girl with blue braided into her black hair who wore too much eyeliner, but used it well enough that she didn’t look too much like a panda. She’s new, and he hasn’t quite gotten her name right, yet. He thinks it might be Narelle or Nadia or something starting with an N. “Would you please be an absolute doll and go downstairs and get me an iced mocha?”

She agrees, and takes the money he gives her, heading out of the studio.

He remembers the song, _Werewolves_ he thinks he played it a few times after it was released. He likes it; it’s got a good beat and the lyrics are well-written.

While the music’s still on, Harry leans over the table and says, “So, this guy, what was it?”

“Louis.”

“Right, Louis. Are you going to ask him out?”

“No. Why would I do that?” Nick asks, raising his eyebrow at Harry.

“Because you like him.” Harry replies, sipping his tea, staring at Nick with a smirk on his lips.

“I don’t.” Nick lies. He kind of does. 

“Liar.” Harry says, gulping down the last of the tea and flicking on his microphone when the song ends.

The intern reappears just as Nick’s put on _Despacito_ , two songs later, and there’s a commotion out in the hallway.

“They’re here.” She tells Nick, handing him his drink. She’s excited, Nick can tells she’s a fan, and honestly, Harry isn’t doing much better. He’s fidgety and flushed, and he only gets this way when he’s about to meet one of his top five celebrity crushes. Nick’s going to have a fun time figuring out which one it is.

Nick takes a sip of his iced mocha and introduces the next song, _Swalla_. “I love this one, it’s an absolute banger.”

“You got very excited about it in Fumo last weekend.” Harry agrees, laughing. “You should’ve seen him, flirting with the DJ to get her to play it at least ten times.”

“Once we come back, Complex Narcissism will be in the studio, but for now, here’s _Swalla_ by Jason Derulo, Nicki Minaj and Ty Dollar $ign.”

Nick flicks the song on and turns off his microphone, queuing up _Feels_ and _I’m The One_ before following Harry out into the hallway.”

Most of the band are waiting out in the hallway, arguing amicably over something, Nick thinks it might be over what they’re having for lunch. He’s only met one of them before, Liam, at Cheryl’s last birthday party, but he’s heard nothing but good things about the rest of them.

He greets Liam and introduces himself to the others; Niall Horan, Leigh-Anne and Perrie Edwards.

He’s complimenting Leigh-Anne on her engagement ring when there’s a gasp from behind him, and someone says, “Oi! I knew you looked familiar!”

Louis, the man Nick had met at Regent’s Park, is standing behind him, eyes wide, mouth hanging open in shock.

“What are you doing here?” Nick asks, frowning at him, taking his arm and pulling him away from the group.

“You’re interviewing me, obviously.” Louis replies, rolling his eyes at Nick like he’s mental for not already getting it. “I’m the drummer.”

“Right,” Nick says, still staring at Louis suspiciously. “Are you sure you’re not a kidnapper?”

Louis laughs, and he’s about to say something, before he’s interrupted by Fiona, poking her head out the producer’s box to say, “Thirty seconds, guys!”

“C’mon.” Nick says, turning back to the group and heading for the studio.

Fiona and Will set the band up with microphones and headphones, across the table from Nick and Harry while the cameras are set up at the end of the table, one facing Nick and Harry, the other facing the band.

“That was _I’m The One_ by DJ Khaled, featuring Justin Bieber, Quavo, Chance the Rapper and Lil Wayne.” Harry says once the song’s faded and the microphones are back on. “Complex Narcissism are on the show, welcome, guys!”

The band gives their thanks and greetings.

“How are you all?” Nick asks, fixing his headphones when they start falling off of his head.

There’s a chorus of _good_ ’s, and then a _tired_ from Liam.

“Why are you tired, Liam?” He asks, taking a sip of his drink. “Up all night partying?”

The band laughs, and Liam shakes his head. “No, I was not partying, Nicholas. I’m all about the dad life, now. Bear’s got a bit of a cold.”

“And how’s that going, Liam? Being a dad?” Harry asks, smiling over at Liam. Harry’s met Liam’s son before, and like with every baby that had ever crossed Harry’s path, he’d became completely enamoured with him. 

While Liam’s answering, Nick realises Louis’ staring at him, and he raises an eyebrow back at him. Louis just grins and turns to whisper something in Leigh-Anne’s ear, which she laughs at.

“And what about the rest of you?” Nick asks, once Liam’s stopped speaking. “Anyone else got a missus? Hubby?”

“Well, Leigh-Anne’s getting married soon.” Niall says, grinning at his band member, two people to his right.

Leigh-Anne blushes when Nick and Harry congratulate her, and then spends a good minute talking about how amazing Jesy is.

“What about you, Louis?” Harry asks, a faint blush on his cheeks, and comprehension dawns on Nick. Harry has a crush on Louis. Nick wonders if he’s realised yet that this is the Louis he met at the park on Sunday. “Do you have a girlfriend?”

Louis looks at Nick with a cheeky smirk and says, “No, I don’t have a boyfriend. But I wouldn’t be opposed to the idea of one.”

Nick really hopes the choking sound he makes isn’t picked up by the microphone, as the rest of Louis’ band snicker like teenagers.

“So, guys,” Harry interrupts while Nick and Louis are still staring at each other. Nick breaks their eye contact and looks over at Harry who’s turned to the band, mouth turned up in a grin. At least he’s not upset his crush is flirting with Nick. Because Louis is definitely flirting with him. “I just wanted to tell you that I think the album is absolutely fantastic. What was the inspiration behind it? How did you go about putting it together?”

Nick turns to find Louis still staring at him, and he worries the camera’s going to pick it up.

Nick puts their newest single on eventually and drinks his iced mocha to hide the blush on his cheeks.

The rest of the interview goes mostly without a hitch, but Louis spends the entire time flirting with Nick, and Nick’s having a hard time concentrating.

When it’s over, Harry’s putting on a song and the band’s getting up to leave, Louis squeezes Nick’s bicep as he passes, and says, “See you later, Nick.”

Nick spends the rest of the show trying desperately not die from some weird mix of embarrassment and arousal, while all Harry, Fiona and Will can do is laugh at him.

“Why am I friends with any of you?”


	3. Chapter 3

When Nick opens his front door, he’s expecting Harry with their dinner, even going so far as to say, “You better have brought extra bread,” before he’s even gotten the door open properly. “You ate it all last time.”

“Uh.” Louis says, running his fingers through his hair. “No, I… I haven’t brought you garlic bread.”

“Sorry, I thought you were Harry.” Nick mumbles, an urgent need to bash his head against the wall a couple times niggling in the back of his mind. “So, what’s up?”

Louis frowns, but then his face smooths into a bright smile. “Have you got any milk? I’ve run out and I desperately want to avoid going out to the shops.”

“Uh…” Nick says, looking back into his flat, towards the kitchen. “Uh, maybe? C’mon in.”

Nick takes him through his flat, leaving the door open, into the kitchen, and checks in the fridge. The two litre’s almost empty, but he thinks he might have a UHT in the cupboard.

It’s hiding behind the cereal, and he grabs it and holds it out for Louis. “Is UHT okay?”

“Hmm?” Louis asks, eyes focusing back on Nick. “Oh, yeah, s’fine.” He nods his head and takes the container from Nick. “Thank you. I’ll bring you back one tomorrow, yeah?”

“No need.” Nick replies as Pig comes scampering into the kitchen, nails clacking on the tiles.

“Hey, pup.” Louis greets her, squatting down to pat Pig, thumb running over the bone between her eyes. “Where’s the other one?” He asks. “The little pug?”

Nick shrugs. “Probably asleep in my cupboard again.”

“Nick!” Harry calls from the front door, the screen squeaking open, “I’m coming in!” He appears in the kitchen momentarily, and blinks at Nick and then at Louis. “Have I interrupted something?”

“No,” Nick answers, probably a little too fast. “I’ve just given Louis some milk.”

“I’ll be off then.” Louis says, standing after one last pat for Pig and sending Harry a kind smile before he asks, “Walk me to the door?”

Nick agrees, and follows him out, leaning against the doorframe as he says, “There’s really no need to get me another.”

Louis turns his head to look back at Nick and grins cheekily. “I’ll just have to find another way to make it up to you.” He’s gone after that, out the front gate and around the hedge to his own place so Nick can’t see him anymore.

He stands there, in the doorway, for longer than he should, red right down to his toes, before he goes back inside and locks the front door behind him. Harry’s sitting at the kitchen counter with a shit eating grin on his face and Nick kind of wants to poke his tongue out at him.

“You like him,” He sing-songs, tugging off the pasta container’s lid.

“Go fuck yourself.” Nick tells him as he finds plates, no actual bite behind his words. “Did you get the extra garlic bread? You ate it all last time.”

“You gonna ask him out?” Harry asks, taking the two foil wrapped garlic breads from the bag and putting them on the counter.

“I’m gonna give you the same answer I gave you last time you asked me that.”

“You’re into him, he’s into you, what’s the big deal?” Harry asks, frowning, accepting the plate Nick hands him and dumping half the container of bacon and feta gnocchi onto it, and half the container of penne arrabbiata next to it. “You should just ask him out. There’s no harm in trying.”

“No.” Nick replies firmly. “He’s gotta be a decade younger than I am; and who knows, maybe he’s just a flirty sort of person, maybe he isn’t actually into me.” He dumps what’s left in the containers on his own plate.

Harry rolls his eyes. “Whatever. Pussy.”

Nick actually pokes his tongue out at Harry then as he’s pouring them some wine.

They sit in front of the TV to eat, picking up where they left off last time they were watching _Doctor Who_.

When Nick’s full and nicely buzzed and about ready for a nanna nap, his phone buzzes on the coffee table with a text.

_nicked ur # while u wernt lookin, hope u dont mind_

It’s not signed, but Nick can tell it’s from Louis.

_No, I don’t mind_ , he write, adding a smiling emoji to the end.

_thx 4 the milk again btw_

_No need to thank me_ Nick replies. And then, because he really wants to keep talking to Louis, he writes, _So, what are you up to?_

_leighs over 4 some songwriting_ Louis replies after only a moment. _were takin a break 4 dinner, tht id send u a txt_

“Who are you texting?” Harry asks, snatching Nick’s phone from his hands. “There’s no name.”

“It’s no one.” Nick answers, taking his phone back, stuffing it into his back pocket. “S’just a mate.”

“Is it Louis?”

“Why would you say that? How would I even get his number?”

“I think the lady doth protest too much.” Harry replies haughtily, nose turned up.

“Shut up, Harry.” Nick replies, taking the plates and cutlery into the kitchen. He leans against the cupboards and fishes his phone out again, texting Louis, _I appreciate that. And I appreciate the text._

All Louis sends is an _x_ , and Nick wonders why his heart is beating so goddamned fast.


	4. Chapter 4

Nick's just woken up from a post-work, cold-induced nap, in the kitchen making a cup of tea, when there's a knock at his front door. He wants to ignore it, take his cuppa back to bed, curl up in his nice, soft bed with his nice, soft puppies, and maybe watch a couple episodes of The Bake Off. But something compels him to answer it.

Louis' at the door, Belle and Hazel by his feet on their leads, smiling brightly at Nick. "Feel like joining us for a walk?"

Nick looks back into the house, towards the kitchen where the kettle's still boiling, and bites his lip. He wants to go back to bed, but he also wants to hang out with Louis, so after a moments pause, he nods. "D'you want a cuppa first?"

"Sure, sounds great."

Nick leads Louis to the kitchen and gets out another mug for him, leaning against the kitchen cupboards while he waits for the water to finish boiling.

"So, what've you been up to? It's been almost a week since we last talked." Nick says, watching as Louis unties the dogs from their leads and lets them run off towards Pig and Stinky, barking to get their attention. Louis climbs up onto one of the stools and braces his forearms on the counter top.

"We've been putting the music video for _Paper Hearts_ together." Louis answers. "It's almost done, just one more day of filming. Or night, I suppose."

"When are you filming?"

"I'm supposed to get there at eight, but it won't start until nine thirty." Louis replies, smiling at Nick, tilting his head to the side. "It's annoying doing it so late, but definitely worth it."

"Are you happy with it? So far?"

Louis nods his head vigorously. "Absolutely. Liam and Cheryl managed to convince Ben Winston to direct it, and he's so good, like, helping us make the video into what we want."

"That sounds great, pet, that you're having fun." Nick replies, turning back to the kettle once it's finished boiling. "How do you take your tea?"

"No sugar and a splash of milk, thank you." Louis replies. "So what about you? What have you been doing?"

Nick fills the two mugs with boiling water, dumps the tea bags in and turns to Louis while he lets them sit. "Not too much. Working and sleeping. Planning a trip to Symi sometime around next April."

"Sounds like fun. Symi's in Greece, isn't it?"

Nick nods. "Yeah, just off Turkey. Me an' Harry, Henry, Ian an' Aimee, two whole weeks and nothing but crystal blue beaches, wine and food."

"That sounds nice." Louis says, watching Nick take out the tea bags and mix in the sugar and milk. He takes the mug Nick hands him and brings it to his lips. "It's been a while since I last went on a holiday. Liam, Leigh-Anne and I went to Ibiza when the first album came out."

"I've been to Ibiza a few times. Worked some DJ jobs there."

"You DJ?" Louis asks, head tilting to the side again, blinking curiously over at Nick. He looks a bit like a confused puppy.

"Yeah, sometimes. It's not all that different from working as a radio presenter." Nick answers, taking a sip of his tea. 

"That's cool. I'd like to see you at it sometime, yeah?" Louis replies, smiling softly at Nick, before going on to say. "I took my eldest sisters to Paris, too, at the beginning of the year, after-" Louis pauses, and his face twists into something raw and sorrowful. "Nevermind." 

"Are you okay?" Nick asks softly.

Louis's eyes clear, and he gives Nick a sharp smile that doesn't reach his eyes. "Fine. Anyway, you had anyone good on the show this week?"

Nick wants to ask about the look in his eyes. Instead, he sighs and tells Louis all about his interviews with Zayn, Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry until they've finished their tea.

They head out once the dogs are rounded up and on their leads, and Nick's got a pair of jeans on in place of his track pants, and his shoes. 

"You said you had sisters before." Nick says as they step through the gates out onto the street. "How many?"

"Six. And one brother." At Nick's shock, Louis laughs. "I know. Big family." And then he pauses, looking over at Nick. "What about you?"

"One of each." Nick answers, leading Louis towards the outer circle of Regent's Park. "Where are you from?"

"Doncaster. I moved to London after I did my A Levels. I went to London Arts, that's where I met Leigh-Anne."

"What did you study?"

"Oi," Louis says, turning to Nick with a grin. "If we're playing twenty questions I think it's my turn."

Nick laughs and nods his head in assent.

"Right, you next. Where are you from?"

"Oldham." Nick answers, chuckling. "Now can I ask my question?"

"Go on." 

Nick leads them onto the inner circle in the park and repeats, "What did you study?"

"A bachelor in acting and a bachelor in production arts for screen." Louis answers. "I also ended up doing BMus in music performances with Leigh at West London, where we met Liam."

"Wow, I'm impressed." 

"Honestly, don't be, I barely passed any of them. I wouldn't have without Liam and Leigh." Louis replies with a laugh.

"I still am. Did you want to be an actor?"

"Yeah, still do, I guess." Louis answers, nodding his head, turning to look at Nick. "What did you do in Uni?"

"Communications and business at Liverpool, but I never really finished. Missed too many classes. They gave me an undergraduate diploma in 2014, though, like eleven years later." Louis starts to laugh, and Nick can't help but laugh with him.

"I used to spend hours getting high in my flat with Zayn - you know Zayn Malik? We went to Uni together - and I never went to class either. Liam and Leigh-Anne helped me study, though. Until I passed."

They laugh again, until they finally reach the Hylas statue, and then Louis' laughing even harder and Nick's pouting.

"Maybe I should get Pig and Stinky to throw _you_ in and see how _you_ like it." Nick says, stalking towards Louis with his hands held in front of him like he's going to push him in.

"Don't you dare." Louis says, grinning wolfishly, now, in the same position as Nick, hands raised.

Nick wiggles his eyebrows and moves like he's about to lunge, but instead he straightens up and says, "C'mon, we should start walking back."

"Prick." Louis laughs, shaking his head. "Alright, let's go, then."

They start back towards their flats, spending the trip in comfortable silence. Nick doesn't know what Louis's thinking about, but Nick's thinking about asking him out to dinner.

By the time they've gotten back to their street, Nick's realised Louis's been blinking at him, opening his mouth like he's going to speak, then turning away again and shaking his head, over and over again on a loop.

When they reach Nick's flat, he turns to Louis and opens his own mouth to speak when Louis interrupts, "Well, seeya." And then he's gone, hidden behind the hedge that separates their flats.

Nick sighs and walks back to the front door, letting himself in and leaning back against it when he's inside.

"Shit."

He's so fucked.


	5. Chapter 5

"I don't know what you're cooking, but it smells so good." Louis announces as Nick lets him into his flat the Tuesday after they last saw each other. He looks like he just woke up from a nap, his hair messed and red marks on his cheeks from where the pillow dug into his skin. He's wearing plaid pyjama pants and a white singlet, barefoot, with a pair of black rimmed glasses perched on the edge of his nose. "I've decided to invite myself over for dinner."

"Have you?" Nick replies, amused, leaning against the kitchen cupboards as Louis situates himself on a stool at the kitchen counter.

"Yep." Louis says, giving Nick a cheeky grin. "Unless I'm intruding?" He's still smiling, but his voice wavers like he's really worried Nick would ever actually say no to him. As if.

"Totally." Nick answers, smirking so Louis knows he's joking. "You're interrupting my _me_ time. I was gonna sit around and eat my stew in me pants."

"I've no objections." Louis says, and Nick's not quite sure if he's joking or flirting, and it's killing him. "Shall I get the pups and make this a proper party?" Louis's gone before Nick can even reply.

The stew finishes before Louis reappears, and Nick turns the crock pot off, pulling two clean plates from the dishwasher. He's just spooning mash potato onto them when the screen door creaks and Louis trudges in carrying two wriggling puppies and a bottle of Captain Morgan's.

"I wasn't sure if you were a whiskey kind of guy or a rum kind of guy, and then I was like, _whatever, I don't care, I want rum_." Louis tells Nick, placing the dogs on the floor, watching as they go scampering off in search of Pig and Stinky, echoes of their barks bouncing off the walls.

"Nice." Nick snorts, smirking at Louis, watching as he sets the bottle on the counter with a gentle _clack_. "You're lucky, though. I do quite like rum."

"Not that you had any choice in the matter." Louis says, grinning bright and wide like the Cheshire Cat. "You got anything to mix it with?"

"Coke's in the fridge, you're welcome to it." Nick offers, opening the fridge door for Louis before going back to finish serving. 

"Cheers." 

Louis takes the Coke from the fridge and sets it down next to the rum, sliding up next to Nick, who's moved on from the mash potato to the stew. He peers into the pot, hums, and then plunges his finger inside, pulling it back out and putting it in his mouth. "Mmm, tastes good."

"Oi!"

"Sorry." Louis says, absolutely not sorry, at all, as he does it again, sucking a finger covered in stew into his mouth, blinking faux-innocent eyes up at Nick.

Nick's throat goes dry, his heart beats rapidly in his chest, and he seriously thinks about pressing him into the contours and snogging him silly, but instead he says, "You're horrible, you are," and hip-checks him away so he can finish plating up. When Louis tries to get his finger in again, Nick says, "If you do that again, you're not getting any."

Louis pouts, eyes wide and bright, and Nick's brain refuses to work.

 _Fucking hell_.

Nick gets a spoon from the drawer, dipping it into the pot to collect a mouthful of stew, holding it up to Louis. He expects Louis to take the spoon from Nick, but instead, he leans over and takes it into his mouth.

Nick's belly grows hot, and he's about to say something, maybe lean down and lick at the sauce at the corner of Louis's mouth, but Louis pulls away and says, "Where are your cups?"

It takes a bit for Nick's brain to catch up, and when it does, he points to the cupboards near the stove. "The corner cupboard."

Louis makes their drinks, and Nick gathers knives and forks before they're falling onto the couch and Nick's setting up Netflix.

"What do you wanna watch?"

Louis curls his legs up under himself and shrugs. "I don't mind, whatever you were watching last."

Nick uses the remote to scroll down to his recently watched. _Shadowhunters_ is the first on the list, but he's finished the season two finale already, and he's just waiting for the third. The next is _Heroes_ , but he finished the last season two nights ago. Finally, he gets to _Orphan Black_ , and he's only five to six episodes into the first season, so he sets it up and wriggles back into the couch with his plate until he's comfortable.

"I've never seen this before, what's it about?" Louis asks, taking a sip of his drink before leaning over to put his glass back on the coffee table.

"S'about clones, right, and the main character, Sarah, she's like, become one of her clones, like taken on her identity, after she watched her commit suicide. Then she meets some of her other clones, Helena, Cosima and Alison." Nick explains, shrugging his shoulders. "There's a bit more to it, but that's the gist of it."

"Cool, clones." Louis says, grinning, before they fall into silence.

Halfway through the second episode, after Nick's finished his food and Louis's swallowing his last mouthful, Louis puts his plate down on the coffee table and lays down with his head in Nick's lap and his feet over the arm of the couch.

Nick tries desperately not to think about Louis so close to his dick.

Stinky climbs off his bed, where Belle's still sleeping, Hazel and Pig in Pig's bed, and waddles his way to the couch, jumping up and settling himself on Louis's belly, blinking his big black eyes up at Louis and Nick.

"Hey, pup, why are you all sooky?" Louis asks, reaching up to scratch at the top of Stinky's head as he digs his paws under Louis's t-shirt.

"Stinky's an attention whore." Nick snorts, reaching over to scratch at the back of Stinky's neck, his hand bumping against Louis's. "He's like a baby, he needs skin to skin contact. S'why he's tryna burrow under your t-shirt."

Louis takes the hem of his singlet and tucks it over Stinky's head, giggling - actually fucking _giggling_ \- when the dog makes his way, under Louis's t-shirt, from Louis's belly to his chest, poking his head through the neck of Louis's t-shirt and settling in the curve of his throat.

"Quick, quick, take a picture before he moves!" Louis cries, pointing at his phone on the coffee table.

"He probably won't move." Nick stays, picking it up anyway and pressing the home button. "Ryan Reynolds? Really? Are you a fifteen year old girl?"

Louis scoffs. "You're lying if you don't agree that you'd hit that." He grins and watches Nick find his way into the camera app.

"I _would_ hit that," Nick says, taking a few pictures of Louis and Stinky. "But I don't have him as my lock screen."

"Don't judge." Louis says, staring up at Nick, smirking, an eyebrow raised. "If you didn't think you'd get the piss taken out of you, you'd do it, too, admit it."

Nick laughs, taking a few more photos which his own phone. "Probably."

"Yeah, that's what I thought." Louis replies, smiling so wide it creases the corners of his eyes. Nick takes more photos, and after he looks at them, decides he wants to keep these ones just for himself.

"Can I put these up on Instagram?" Nick asks.

"Yeah." Louis replied, nodding his head in Nick's lap. "Go on. Do mine, too?"

Nick uploads the first photo he took on his phone to his Instagram, captioning it _Pups_ with all the dog emojis his phone has, including the paw prints. Once he's posted it, he takes Louis's thumb and presses it to the home button of Louis's phone to unlock it. He finds the Instagram app and creates a new post with the best photo he took.

"What do you want me to caption it?" He asks, turning his head to look down at Louis, who's got his eyes closed and his hand in Stinky's fur.

"Just post it." Louis says softly, sleepily, turning his face so his foreheads pressed to Nick's hip.

"Sleepy?" Nick asks once he's posted the picture, locked Louis's phone and put it back on the coffee table. After only a moment’s hesitation, he begins to run his fingers through Louis's hair.

Louis mumbles something unintelligible, but Nick doesn't hear it, his eyelids suddenly too heavily.

Louis and the pups are gone when Nick wakes up the next morning with a sore back and a crick in his neck, a post-it note stuck to his forehead. 

_Had a photo shoot. Thanks for dinner. Text me? X_


	6. Chapter 6

Louis' sitting on Nick's front doorstep when he gets home from his lunch date with Daisy and Harry. The dogs are sat by his feet, but when they see Nick, they bolt for him- tugging at their leads that are held tight in Louis's grasp, yipping loudly.

Nick greets the dogs with a scratch and Louis with a smile, then says, "What's up, buttercup?"

"I locked myself out." Louis says, pouting.

"Silly boy." Nick says, ruffling Louis's hair before slotting his key into the door lock. He takes them to the kitchen, tip-toeing around all the barking dogs. He turns the kettle on and leans back against the counter to watch Louis. "So, what happened lad?"

Louis groans and says, falling onto one of the counter stools, "I'm so pissed at myself, right. I left my keys, phone and wallet at home when I took the dogs out for a quick walk. I'd forgotten I'd given my sister the spare key."

"You're an idiot." Nick snorts, taking two mugs from the cupboard.

"I _know_." Louis whines, pressing his forehead to the counter top. "Can I borrow your phone? I need to call a locksmith."

"Course, pet." Nick replied, fishing his phone from his pocket, unlocking it and googling locksmiths before handing the phone over to Louis.

Nick makes their tea while Louis calls the locksmiths, leaning back against the counter to watch him. He doesn't look very pleased with what the person on the other line is saying, eyebrows furrowed together, mouth twisted into a scowl.

When the phone call ends, with an affirmative _okay, see you then_ for Louis, he hands Nick's phone back and says with a grimace, "she said it'd be at least two hours. Can I stay til then?"

"Course, pet, don't even need to ask." Nick answers, finishing the two cups of tea once the kettle's boiled and handing Louis' over to him. "D'you wanna watch Netflix or something?"

"Yes, Orphan Black. I've been hanging out to watch it again." Louis says, grinning at Nick.

"Why didn't you?"

Louis shrugs, following Nick into the lounge room, collapsing on the couch. "I wanted to wait for you."

Nick heart beats a little harder against his rib cage. "Me, too." He admits, setting his tea on the coffee table. "I'm gonna let the dogs out into the yard, d'you wanna set it up."

Louis nods, taking the remote Nick hands him, smiling so softly it makes Nick's stomach hurt.

The four dogs are having a tussle by the back door, but they stop when they see him, barking and yipping, weaving their way through his legs while he unlocks the screen door.

Once they're all outside, he refills the water bowl and gives them each a treat from the jar in the laundry cupboard, leaving the door open just enough so they could come back in whenever they pleased.

Louis' sitting in the corner of the couch when Nick returns to the lounge room, feet tucked up underneath himself, elbow propped up on the arm of it. He looks so soft and small and tired, Nick doesn't have the heart to tell him that he's sitting in Nick's favourite spot, so he just sits next to him, picks up his tea and says, "Play time."

Louis snickers and plays the show before shoving the remote down the back of Nick's t-shirt.

"Oi, what was that for?" Nick asks, amused, twisting about til he can reach under his shirt to get the remote, putting it on the couch next to his thigh.

"You were being weird." Louis replies, still snickering.

"Was not!"

" _Play time_." Louis snorts, hitting Nick's shoulder with the back of his hand.

"It wasn't meant to be dirty!" Nick cries when he realises what Louis's implying, laughing so hard his belly hurts.

"Sounded it." Louis's smirking and his cheeks are flushed. Nick kinda wants to kiss him. "Do it."

Nick frowns. "Do what?"

"What do you think, you wanker?" Louis says, climbing up onto his knees, smile sharp and soft, all at once. "Kiss me. I know you want to."

Nick's a little stuck to his spot, cheeks hot and mouth open in shock.

"Fuck sakes."

Nick's still a little frozen when Louis leans over to kiss him, mouth wet and warm on his. He doesn't move for long enough that Louis starts to fidget uncomfortably, and then pulls away, frowning. 

"Sorry, I shouldn't've-"

"Shut the fuck up." Nick says, finally moving, pressing Louis into the corner of the couch and pressing their mouths together with a harsh _clack_ of teeth.

Louis whimpers, and it's not the fun kind of whimper, it's a _you just bit my lip and it kinda fucking hurt_ sort of whimper, and Nick pulls away just enough to apologise and soothe the pain with his thumb.

It's easier the next time, softer, slower, Louis' arms snaking around Nick's neck while he tries to press as close to Louis as humanly possible. Louis tastes like tea and cigarettes and something both sweet and bitter, like dark chocolate.

He kisses Nick like he's hungry - no, starving - licking into Nick's mouth, chasing Nick's own tongue. They don't need to fight for dominance, Nick gives it up to Louis willingly, letting him lead them into something soft and warm and wet that makes Nick's heart hammer in his chest.

Nick takes Louis' face in his hands and straddles Louis' thigh, kissing him deeper, accepting the playful nip to the bottom lip Louis bestows on him.

"You taste like fish." Louis says, pulling away to take a gulping breath.

Nick flushes, and not in a good way. This time his flush is from embarrassment, and it makes something gross grow in his chest. "I'm sorry, I had sushi for lunch. I can go brush my teeth."

"Don't be stupid, stupid." Louis replies, his sharp little smile a juxtaposition to his soft eyes. "You taste good. I love sushi. You taste like soy sauce, too. And tea."

Louis pushes Nick back off his lap into the couch and climbs into _his_ lap, kissing him again, just a little harder than before. Louis's body feels so good against Nick's, compact and both hard and soft in all the nicest places.

Nick doesn't know how long they kiss, but it feels like forever, only stopping now and then to breathe against each other's mouths. He's hard and flushed, and his heart feels like it's gonna beat out of his chest, sparks of lightening soaring through his body every place they're touching. 

Nick's phone starts to buzz incessantly on the coffee table, and he wants to ignore it and snog Louis silly, but he faintly remembers Louis was supposed to do something - go somewhere - important. He pulls away, ignoring Louis' whines, and reaches for his phone.

"'lo?"

"Hi, it's the locksmith? I'm just outside the flat?" The voice on the other end answers, tinny and far-away.

"Fuck, yeah, okay, give me a mo." Nick says, mouthing _locksmith_ at Louis, who's pouting like Nick stole his puppy. "Just wait right there, he'll be over in a minute."

With the locksmith's agreement, Nick hangs up the phone and puts it down on the couch.

"You gotta go, pet. Gotta get your house unlocked."

Louis doesn't look particularly happy about it, but he climbs off Nick's lap anyway, fixing his hair and his jumper." Okay, I gotta... gotta go get the pups."

Nick nods, chest heaving, and he watches Louis leave the room and hears the squeak of the back door.

Nick meets him at the front door after he slides off the couch.

Louis gives him one last kiss, a whispered _later_ , and then he's gone.

Nick doesn't even last a minute before he's falling back into the couch with his jeans unbuttoned and his cock out, wanking to the phantom memory of Louis' lips on his, his body pressed to Nick's.

He comes embarrassingly quickly.


	7. Chapter 7

Later for Nick and Louis turns out to be four days time, a knock on Nick's front door coming at eight-thirty, just as he's finishing his third episode of _Black Mirror_. They'd been texting, while Louis was busy with promo and recording, but they hadn't seen each other, and Nick had missed him.

When Nick pulls his door open, Louis' standing there, under the harsh porch lights, leaning heavily against the wall. His hair's mussed and his eyes are glassy, denim jacket hanging off one shoulder and his feet bare.

"Are you drunk?" Nick asks, amused, helping Louis inside the house.

"Very." Louis answers, leaning against the hallway wall. "Very, very, very, very." He fixes his hair and grins up at Nick. "We were havin' a party, we're celebrating, and I thought, _Nick might like to celebrate, too_ , so here I am, and you're getting dressed."

"I am, am I?" Nick snorts.

"Yes, you are. Tomorrow's Sunday, so you haven't got work. There's no way you're getting out of this." Louis replies, taking Nick's hand and dragging him up the stairs and through the hallway. "Where's your bedroom."

Nick leads Louis to his bedroom door at the end of the hallway and says, "If you wanted me to take you to my bed, all you had to do was ask."

"Shut up." Louis says, without any heat to it, letting go of Nick's hand to rifle through Nick's wardrobe. First, he throws a pair of jeans at Nick, one of the black pairs with the ripped knees, then Nick's favourite grey button-up, and finally a pair of brown leather Chelsea boots. He leaves Nick's wardrobe, climbs onto Nick's bed with his legs crossed and says, "Hurry up, then."

Nick blinks between Louis and the clothes in his hand and says, "Do you mind?"

"Nope." Louis replies with a cheeky smile. "Go on, hurry up, we haven't got all night."

Nick just rolls his eyes and puts the clothes in his hands on the bed next to Louis and starts stripping off his pyjama pants and t-shirt. Louis watches, leaning back with his hands braced on the mattress behind him, a dark look in his eyes, and Nick stops at his briefs, leans over Louis until their mouths are so close they're almost touching and says, "We could always stay here."

Louis hums softly, and his tongue peaks out of his mouth to wet his lips. "Tempting. Later."

Nick pouts and pulls away to get dressed, pointedly ignoring Louis' lewd gaze.

He half-heartedly fixes his hair into a quiff and slides one of his watches onto his wrist before turning to Louis with his arms outstretched. "Up to your standards?"

Louis just laughs and takes Nick's hand to lead him downstairs, turning off lights as they pass them.

Nick leaves the back door open a touch for Pig and Stinky, before finding his phone, wallet and keys, letting himself out the front door and into the back of a taxi.

"Back to the first house, please and thank you." Louis tells the driver once they're belted in, Nick on the right hand side and Louis in the middle seat, his body pressed to Nick's.

"So, what are we celebrating, anyway?"

Louis turns to Nick and grins, patting Nick's knee, excited. "Ooh! You won't believe this, s'fantastic! The album went platinum this morning!"

"That's amazing, Lou, congratulations." Nick tells him, pulling him in for a one armed hug. Even when he's given Louis his hug, he doesn't let go, but Louis doesn't seem to mind, just curls himself under Nick's arm.

"Thank you." Louis replies softly, flinging his leg over Nick's thigh. "It's only a small group, at the party. Just the band, Jesy, Cheryl, a couple other friends and stuff. It's all very low-key. When we have parties we mostly get drunk, smoke pot and play card games and board games and shit."

"Sounds like fun." Nick replies as the taxi pulls into the driveway of a large, beautiful, white house. All the lights are bright on the first floor, and Nick can see a group of people spread out in the lounge room.

Nick pays the taxi driver and helps Louis out of the car, watching the taxi leave before heading into the house.

"Nick!" Cheryl cries, loping toward Nick and Louis, flinging herself at the older man, squeezing him into a tight hug. "So, that's where you went, Lou!"

Nick greets the rest of the group, some he knows (Liam, Jesy, Leigh-Anne, Perrie and Niall), and some he doesn't (Leigh-Anne's sister- Sarah, Perrie's best friend- Jade, and Niall's best friend- Bressie, who Nick recognises as the lead singer of an Irish band, The Blizzards), and then lets Louis drag him into the kitchen to make drinks.

"What do you want?" Louis asks, pulling open the fridge and taking out a Guinness.

"I'll take one, too." Nick says, taking Louis's with a grin. "Cheers, love."

"Cheeky." Louis replies with a soft chuckle, taking another Guinness from the fridge and shutting the door. He unscrews the cap and leans against the counter as he takes a sip before he says, "C'mere."

Nick smirks. "Where?"

Louis snorts and shakes his head, putting his drink down on the counter and gets a fist in Nick's shirt, pulling him closer. "C'mere and give me a kiss, you twit."

Nick crowds Louis against the cupboards and leans down to press their mouths together, taking Louis' face in his hands. He tastes like beer and weed and cigarettes, and Nick can't get enough.

"Oi, quit it, you two! We're going to play King's Cup!" Perrie cries from the kitchen doorway, giggling. When Nick pulls away from Louis to look at her, her cheeks are pink and hair is dishevelled, her shirt untied, showing off the peach coloured lace top underneath. 

Louis slides out from under Nick and loops his arm around Perrie's shoulder, telling her in a stage whisper, that Nick suspects Louis doesn't know he can hear, "Pezza, baby, sweetheart, love of my life, I love you, but I've been trying to get into Nick's pants for months, and if you interrupt again, I'll tell everyone about that time at the aquarium."

Perrie lets out a loud guffaw and presses her face into Louis's shoulder. "I fucking hate you!"

"No you don't, you love me." Louis replies, holding his hand out to Nick. Nick takes it, and lets himself be led out to the lounge room, taking a seat on the last free armchair, accepting Louis into his lap.

They play a few rounds of _King's Cup_ , then a round of _Bullshit_ and a couple rounds of _Card's Against Humanity_. Louis doesn't move out of Nick's lap the entire night, unless it's to get more drinks or go to the toilet, curled up with his feet over the side of the armchair, his fingers playing in the short hair at the nape of Nick's neck.

It's almost three in the morning when the baby monitor on the coffee table crackles and Louis pounces at it, yelling, "My turn!"

Everyone laughs, and Nick watches fondly as he bounds up the stairs with the monitor clasped tight in his hand.

"I'm so hungry. Is someone sober enough to make a McDonald's run?" Niall asks, flinging his legs up over Leigh-Anne and Jesy's own, bumping his beer bottle against his shoulder. "I need like, three Big Mac's."

“New guy goes." Jade says, smirking at Nick, "It's the law."

Nick laughs, shaking his head at the girl. "Alright, if it's the law, I'll go." He agrees, sitting up in the edge of the armchair as Louis reappears with Bear.

"He's hungry." Louis tells Cheryl, sitting on the arm of the chair Nick's in. "Are you sober, or should I make a bottle of formula?"

Cheryl pushes herself up off the couch and takes Bear from Louis. "There's breast milk in the fridge. Why don't you go to McDonald's with Nick and I'll feed him."

"We're going to McDonald's?" Louis asks, grinning down at Nick. "I'm craving one of those sausage breakfast muffins like nobody's business."

"I'm not sober enough to drive, I don't think. Should we get an Uber or summat?" Nick asks Louis, tucking his head into Louis's side.

"I can drive." Louis says, running his fingers through Nick's hair.

"No you cannot."

"I haven't had anything to drink in a while, I swear. I'll be fine."

Nick sighs and closes his eyes, pressing his nose into the strip of skin between Louis's jeans and t-shirt. "If you kill me, I'll haunt your arse until the end of time."

"Got it, c'mon." Louis says, climbing off the armchair, holding his hand out to Nick. Nick takes it, letting Louis pull him to his feet. "I need someone's car keys, I caught an Uber here."

Perrie's the first to get her keys out, and before she hands them to Louis, she says, "If you crash her, I will crash your head against a brick wall."

Louis smiles brightly at Perrie. "Thank you!" He says, before curling his fingers through Nick's and tugging him through the house to the front door, out onto the driveway.

The car Nick's led to is a dark red Lexus that Louis fondly introduces as Siegfried, Perrie's legitimate name for it, and Nick can't help but laugh. 

"Siegfried? Jesus Christ, that's the best thing I've ever heard." Nick says, falling into the passenger seat, laughing so hard his stomach hurts. "Who name's their car Siegfried?"

"Perrie, apparently." Louis replies, his grin fond. He turns on the ignition and pulls out onto the street before saying, "Are you, like, having fun?" He looks like he's worried Nick will say no, eyebrows threaded together. "I just... I really want you to be cool around my friends." He says softly, taking his hand off the steering wheel to clasp his fingers through Nick's. "I really, really like you."

Nick squeezes Louis's hand and lifts it to his lips, pressing a kiss to the back of it. "Me too, Lou. Me too.”


	8. Chapter 8

When Nick wakes, there's a warm body curled around his back, a face pressed into his throat, and a hard cock digging into the small of his back. Louis' hand is pressed to Nick's belly, and he feels warm and soft and Nick doesn't want to let him go, but he desperately needs the toilet.

When he tries to move, to pull away and get off the bed, Louis only holds onto him tighter, groaning something completely unintelligible.

"Lou, I need to pee." Nick says softly, tracing the skull and crossbones tattoo on Louis's wrist.

"Don' wanna move." Louis replies, running his thumb over the skin of Nick's belly. "I'm comfortable."

"I need to pee, and your hard on is digging into my back right now."

Louis snorts, his breath tickling the skin of Nick's neck, and to Nick’s surprise, he pushes his hips closer to Nick's. "You like it."

Nick laughs. "Unless you've got a thing for water sports, I think you should let me go."

Louis sighs exaggeratedly, but let's Nick go nonetheless, curling back into the bed as Nick climbs out. "Be back soon."

Nick spends a couple minutes searching for the bathroom in Cheryl and Liam's expansive hallway, then does his business and washes his hands. He finds the spare room he and Louis spent the night in, climbing back into the bed, facing Louis, reaching forward to brush Louis' fringe from his eyes.

Louis blinks his eyes open, but only for a second before he shuts them again, humming. "You're back."

"I am, pet." Nick answers, grinning. "Wanna make out?"

"Your breath smells awful." Louis answers, scooting closer to Nick anyway, wrapping an arm around Nick, eyes still closed.

"You don't exactly smell like a flower yourself, pet."

Louis laughs and kisses Nick, finally, getting even closer to him until they're pressed chest to chest, so tightly Nick can barely breathe. It doesn't exactly taste good, they both taste like stale beer and cigarette smoke and sleep, and it's kinda gross, but neither of them seem to care too much.

Louis slides on top of Nick after they've been kissing for what seems like forever, and grinds his hips down into Nick's. It makes something warm and nice settle into the pit of Nick's stomach and he wants more.

"Lou," Nick says breathlessly, after pulling away. "Pet, can I..."

"Can I suck you off?" Louis asks before Nick can finish what he was about to say.

"Shit, fuck, yes." Nick groans, squeezing Louis' arse in his hands. "I was gonna ask if I could do you, but that sounds good, too."

Louis grins up at Nick and gives him one last kiss before sitting up in Nick's lap, tugging his shirt (is that Nick's?) over his head, leaving him in only his pants. Nick presses his hand to the stretch of skin between Louis' pecs, sliding it down his warm, tan skin to his belly, and the waistband of Louis' briefs.

"Have I ever told you how fucking gorgeous you are?" Nick asks softly, curling his hand around Louis' hip, staring up at him.

"No." Louis replies, skin flushed from his cheeks down to his chest. "But I like it."

Nick slides his hand up Louis's body again, just to feel the heat under his skin. "You'd look so gorgeous riding my cock."

Louis gasps and his skin goes redder, his cock twitching against Nick's belly. He looks so good like this, flushed and panting in Nick's lap. When he looks down at Nick, his pupils are blown wide and his lips are bitten red. "You know what would look even better?" He asks, smirking now. He looks obscene, and Nick's cock thickens even more, if that were even physically possible. "You, spread out on the bed, stuffed full of _mine_."

Nick groans. "Fuck, Lou."

Louis smirks again, and reaches down to tweak Nick's nipples between his thumbs and forefingers, grinding his hips in figure eights. "Do you want that, Nick?" He asks, running his thumbs gently over the tip of Nick's nipples. "My cock splitting you open?"

God, does Nick want that.

"God, fuck, yes."

"Yeah? You'd look so good, baby." Louis says, leaning down to latch his mouth onto Nick's left nipple.

"Fuck, Lou." Nick whines, threading his fingers through Louis's hair and tugging softly.

Louis presses soft, wet kisses down Nick's chest and belly, until he reaches the waistband of his pants. "Do you want them off?"

Nick nods his head and lifts his hips to let Louis get his briefs off, shivering when the cool air touches the heat of his cock. Louis doesn't touch Nick at first, he just leans over him, breathing over his skin until Nick's cock is twitching and his heart is beating hard in his rib cage. "Louis, please, c'mon."

Louis grins up at Nick. "Christ, Nick, patience is not your strong suit, is it?"

Nick laughs and shakes his head. "Not even a little. Especially when I've got a fit boy in my lap who's taking too long to get his mouth on my cock."

When Louis finally get his mouth on him, Nick feels like fireworks are exploding in his veins. It's been so long since Nick's been intimate with anyone, a guy in a club not long before he met Louis, and just Louis' mouth on the head of his cock is making him feel closer than he should be.

Louis focuses on the head first, sucking and licking until Nick's moaning into the sheets, head turned to the side. When he takes Nick in deeper, he doesn't stop at a couple inches, he just keeps going and going, relaxing his throat and jaw until Louis's nose is pressed into Nick’s pubic bone.

Nick groans and climbs up onto his forearms to stare down at Louis in disbelief. "Holy fucking Christ, Louis."

Louis doesn't reply, he can't really, not with his mouth full, instead he does this thing where his threat flutters around Nick, and Nick moans desperately.

"Fuck, Lou, if you keep doing that I'll come." Nick falls back against the bed again with a groan and reaches down to thread his fingers through Louis's hair.

Louis doesn't answer again, he just uses his shoulders to spread Nick's thighs, then presses a thumb to Nick's hole, pushing in just a little so Nick feels it.

"Fuck, shit, pet."

When Nick comes, his entire body sings with it, his back arching and his hands tightening in Louis's hair.

"Fucking Christ, you sound so good when you come." Louis tells Nick, voice soft, climbing back up Nick's body. His mouth is red and wet, and there's a little come dripping from the corner of it. Nick wants to lick it off Louis, wants to taste his own come on Louis' skin.

"Can I... I wanna..." Nick stutters, reaching down to grasp Louis's cock through his briefs. "Do you want me to jerk you off?"

Louis gives Nick a sharp grin and grinds his hips into Nick's hand. "I'd normally say yes to such a lovely offer, but I kinda wanna come on your arse, if that okay?"

Nick nods vigorously and turns under Louis so he's lying on his belly. "Go on, then."

Nick feels Louis' hands on his skin, his fingers tracing patterns on Nick's arse. "They're like constellations, your freckles. This one looks like Delphinus."

"Who'd have known you'd be into stargazing, pet." Nick says with a soft chuckle. "You're a sap. Are you going to come on me or not?"

Louis laughs, squeezing Nick's cheeks in his hands. "You're such a romantic."

"Aren't I just?" Nick replies, smirking and reaching back to pinch at any skin he can get his hands on.

"Ow!" Louis cries indignantly, slapping Nick's hip. "Don't pinch."

It goes quiet for a while, and then suddenly Nick realises it isn't totally quiet; Louis's panting and there's a thick, rhythmic sound of skin on skin, and Nick realised he's wanking.

"Cmon, Lou, want you to come on me." Nick encourages, turning his face to look at Louis as best as he can, reaching back to lace his fingers with Louis', the ones digging into the flesh of his hip. "C'mon, Lou, want it."

Louis whines when he comes, so loud someone that Nick suspects is Niall bangs on the wall and yells _shut it you feckers!_ Suddenly, Louis' whine is drowned out by Nick's breathless laughter, and then not long after by Louis' own.

"Oops." Louis giggles, collapsing on top of Nick, disregarding the wet, sticky come cooling between them. "That was quite nice."

Nick snorts. "Only _quite nice_ , huh?" He asks, bucking Louis off him, turning onto his side to kiss him. "Guess I'll have to pick up my game."

Louis grins, snaking his arms around Nick's neck, wrapping his leg around Nick's waist. "You know what we've gotta do now the first orgasms are out of the way?"

"Go get breakfast quesadillas for all of your poor hungover friends." Nick jokes, brushing Louis' sweaty fringe from his forehead.

"No, fuck them. Go on a date with me."

Nick's heart beats faster, and he nods his head vigorously, before leaning down to kiss Louis. "Yeah, yes, definitely."

Louis grins, eyes crinkling at the corners, and says, "Good."


	9. Chapter 9

When a toddler- no more than three or four- opens Louis' door the night of Nick and Louis' date, Nick wonders for a long few moments if he's gotten the wrong door, though he knows he can't've.

"Ernie! You know better than to answer the door to strangers! C'mon, kid!" And that's definitely Louis, so unless Louis' got a kid Nick doesn't know about, the little blonde boy in Batman pyjamas must be his brother.

This knowledge only makes Nick more confused.

Louis appears in the doorway behind the toddler moments later, holding a bottle of milk and a pacifier in one hand and a blanket and teddy bear in the other. "Take your milk and Bellamy and go watch the movie with your sister." Once Louis' brother is gone, with all the things Louis had been holding taken from his hands, Louis opens the screen door and peers out at Nick. "Nick, what are you... oh, fuck."

"Yeah."

"Shit, Nick, I'm so so-"

"Lou!"

"Just give me a second, Dotty!" Louis calls back into the house, sighing and running a hand down his face. "I'm really sorry, I completely forgot to text you when Lottie dropped them-"

"Louis- _ee_!"

"I'm coming, Doris!" Louis cries again. "She's being a fucking terror today. She's never like this."

"Are you okay, pet? D'you need some help?" Nick asks, reaching forward to run his fingers through Louis' fringe and push to strands of hair from his eyes. 

Louis' eyelids flutter closed at the touch and he leans into Nick's hand and sighs softly. "Lottie dropped them off a couple hours ago. Doris' done nothing but whine the whole time and Ernest's on a sugar high."

"Louis!"

Louis sighs again and closes his eyes for a second, before blinking them back open again. "I've gotta make sure they haven't hurt themselves. D'you want to come in?"

"If I'm not interrupting." Nick replies, shrugging his shoulders, his arm dropping to his side.

Louis pulls Nick in for a quick kiss and says, "C'mon, I'll put them to bed and we can order take away and watch _Orphan Black_."

"Alright. Let me change and I'll be back, okay?"

Louis nods and kisses Nick one last time before he disappears back into the house.

Nick lets himself back into his flat, much to Stinky and Pig's surprised delight, and changes his trousers and shirt for a pair of joggers and a t-shirt.

He takes the dogs back with him to Louis' flat, letting himself in through the open door, closing and locking it behind him. He finds Louis in the kitchen, leaning against the cupboards, looking down at his phone, and blinking through the lounge room doorway every now and then to check on the twins.

"You brought the puppies!" Louis cries happily, putting his phone down on the counter and kneeling on the kitchen tiles to greet Stinky and Pig, giving them cuddles, scratching their fur and accepting the licks to the face they give him. "I missed you guys."

"My dogs are getting more love than I am, how is that fair?" Nick whines, pouting at Louis.

"You're such a baby, why do I even like you." Louis replies, smirking, standing up from the floor and stepping around the dogs to approach Nick. He flings his arms around Nick's neck, wrapping one of his hands around the other wrist, pressing a soft kiss to the older man's cheek. "Better?"

"Kiss me proper, you twit."

Louis does, pressing his mouth to Nick's, soft and warm and tasting like tea.

"Better." Nick decides after a moment, running his fingers through Louis's fringe again. "You got my cuppa?"

Louis snorts, amused, lifting the mug sitting on the counter beside him to his smirking lips. "Make it yourself."

"That's not the rule."

"Rule?" Louis asks, still smirking. "There is no rule."

"It’s unspoken. I make tea at mine, you make tea at yours." Nick replies, patting Louis's cheek, stepping away from him. "Go on, then, I’m waiting."

"I'm not your slave." Louis tells Nick, almost indignant, turning around anyway to start the kettle and pull out a mug from the cupboard. "So, where were we going tonight, anyway?"

"A creole place in Camden: The Blues Kitchen. D'you like creole food?" Nick asks, reaching down to pick Stinky up off the floor when he butts his head against Nick's calf, holding the dog in the crook of his arm.

"I've never had it before, what is it?"

"It's food from Louisiana, you know, the state in America? Lots of spices and barbecuing. It's one of my favourite restaurants. Have you ever heard of jambalaya, gumbo or beignets." Nick replies, watching Louis' face soften as Stinky burrows his muzzle in Nick's throat.

"I've heard of gumbo and beignets, but only because of _The Princess and the Frog_." Louis admits, shrugging his shoulders and filling Nick's mug with a tea bag and sugar. "It sounds good. Do they do deliveries?"

"I don't think they even do pick-up. We'll just have to go there another time." Nick replies, shrugging his shoulders. "What do you want instead? Curry? Pasta? Sushi?"

"I want basghetti!" Doris yells as she runs into the kitchen, her socked feet slipping on the tiles, causing her to crash into Louis' legs. "Oops."

"Be careful, cheeky monkey, you'll hurt yourself." Louis tells the toddler, lifting her onto his hip. "You can't have spaghetti, you've already had dinner, and it's almost time for bed."

"I don't wanna." Doris whines, and then, with her thumb in her mouth, she says, "Who's he?"

"This is my friend Nick." Louis answers, smiling at Nick before turning around to finish Nick's tea one-handed. "He and I are gonna have dinner and watch some movies once you and Ernie have gone to bed."

"I wanna watch movie." Doris replies, popping out her bottom lip.

"You can't. After Baymax, it's bed time. Now go back to the lounge room with Ernie." Louis replies, placing Doris back on her feet on the floor. "Go on."

Doris disappears through the doorway and Louis turns back for Nick's tea, pulling the tea bag out and storing it before handing it to Nick.

"Thank you, pet." Nick says, pressing a soft kiss to Louis' cheek. "So, what do you want for dinner?"

"I think curry. I really want raita and prawn sambal." Louis answers, pulling Nick closer by fistfuls of his t-shirt. "Is curry okay?"

"Yeah, curry sounds good. We could get a whole heap to share." Nick replies, sliding his thigh between Louis' and putting his tea down on the counter. "I was gonna take you home afterwards and suck your brain out through your cock."

"You could still do that, y'know. After dinner, though, I'm starving." Louis says, slowly grinding his hips into Nick's, grinning up at him before sliding away, taking his tea with him to the lounge room.

Nick follows behind him, sitting on the arm of the couch next to him with his tea for the last five minutes of the movie.

When the movie's over and Louis' taking the twins upstairs to put them to bed. Nick calls the nearest Indian place to make an order for delivery. He gets prawn sambal and raita for Louis, as well as naan, butter chicken, tikka masala, samosas, basmati rice, kofta and rogan josh. He's probably gotten way too much, but Nick doesn't care, they can always save the leftovers for later.

Louis and the food appear at the same time, and Nick pays while Louis gets plates, and then opens the back door to let the dogs out. They set up on the couch and Nick exits out of the finished Disney movie the twins were watching and finds _Orphan Black_ in recently watched. 

"D'you remember what episode we were up to?" Nick asks Louis, turning to look at him. He's already eating, and when Nick looks at him, he stops chewing, his cheeks bulged like a chipmunk. He shrugs and Nick laughs at him. "Cute. I think it was like, eight or nine."

Nick finds the episode (which turns out to be ten, the last episode of the season), and plays it while Louis presses himself into Nick's side, a forkful of rice in his mouth.

"I'm sorry we had to miss our date." Louis says, voice soft and quiet, taking a bite of his naan.

"We didn't miss it." Nick tells Louis, pressing a kiss to his temple, curling his arm around Louis. "We just relocated it."

"We do this all the time, though."

Nick chuckles. "Doesn't matter, just means we don't have to go through the first date awkwardness."

"True." Louis agrees. "Now shush, my wife is speaking."

Nick looks at the TV, at Cosima, Louis's favourite character, and laughs. "You're adorable."

"Fuck off outta here with that shit." Louis says, pushing Nick's face away with a hand on his cheek when Nick puckers his lips and makes kissing sounds at Louis. "I could strangle you."

"You're too short to reach."

Louis snorts indignantly. "You've sunk low enough for me to reach." He replies, grinning wolfishly.

Nick goes to lunge at him, but remembers the plates in their laps, and picks them up, putting them on the coffee table.

"Oi, you great big lug, I was eating!" Louis cries, before letting out a surprised squeak when Nick dives for him, digging his fingers in Louis's side. "Hey, stop that!"

"Make me."

Louis slaps at Nick's shoulder, a huge grin on his face, and says, "Don't try me."

By the time they eat dinner its gone cold and they're wet and half naked after a post-sex shower.


	10. Chapter 10

"So, they know." Louis says as Nick lets him into his flat, Belle and Hazel trailing in behind him. Louis goes straight for the kitchen and sits on one of the island stools while Nick follows and the puppies go off in search of Stinky and Pig.

"Who's they? Know what?" Nick asks, turning the kettle on and pulling two mugs from the dishwasher; the sunny yellow one with _I'm a happy go lucky ray of fucking sunshine_ written on the side (Louis's current favourite), and the white mug with _Good morning, I see the assassins have failed_ , written in black, which Louis had bought him.

"They with a capital _T_. The world, the internet, the press, the trash magazines, the fans." Louis answers, handing Nick his phone. It's open to a news article, with a picture of Nick and a picture of Louis side-by-side, captioned _Are BBC Radio One's Nick Grimshaw and Complex Narcissism's Louis Tomlinson dating?_

"Oh. Is that a problem?" Nick asks, handing Louis' phone back to him.

"Nope. Just thought you should know." Louis answers, locking his phone and placing it on the counter. "Besides, it's only speculation and rumours. We could always put them to rest?"

Nick turns to Louis with a soft smile and leans over the counter to press a quick kiss to Louis' mouth. "We could."

"D'you want to?" Louis asks, blinking up at Nick. His cheeks are red and he's biting his bottom lip. He's nervous, and Nick wonders if he's been thinking about this for a while.

"It'll stop other exceedingly handsome radio DJs from hitting on you and sweeping you off your feet." Nick replies, grinning at Louis and pressing another, softer kiss to Louis' lips.

"Shut up, I did the hitting and the sweeping you twit." Louis says with a laugh, head-butting Nick softly.

"Nevertheless."

"How do people announce relationships nowadays? On social media?" Louis replies with another laugh. " _Me and @grimmers are fucking_."

Nick snorts, shaking his head at Louis, amused. "I'm sure the fans would love to know that. There's probably already fanfiction in circulation."

"I wonder if we have a name already, like... Nouis?" Louis says as Nick presses one last kiss to his lips before going back to the boiled kettle to make their tea. "Maybe Tomlinshaw, like our surnames together. I like that better than Nouis."

"Just tweet _#Tomlinshawisreal_." Nick offers with a chuckle, pouring water into the mugs of sugar and tea bags. He jumps and almost burns himself when Louis appears suddenly behind him, wrapping his arms around his waist and pressing his face into Nick's threat. "Hey."

"Hey." Louis replies. "D'you really wanna, like, announce it?"

Nick puts the kettle back onto the plate and runs his fingers over the hands clasped at his belly. "Maybe we should, like, talk about whether or not there's something to announce, first."

Louis pulls away from Nick, and Nick realises he should've explained himself better, because when he turns around, Louis' face is pinched, and his eyebrows are drawn together in a frown. "Lou, shit, I said that all wrong. I meant that before we go public, I need to know if we're on the page, about being together. I want to be together, I want to tell everyone, I just need to know if that means we're _together_. If you feel the same. Shit, I'm totally bollixing this up."

Louis' face softens and he curls his arms around Nick's neck. "You're a dozy sod, Nick Grimshaw. Forget the tea."

"Tea's already made." Nick replies, letting Louis back him up against the counter. "You hate reheated tea, and making it without drinking it is a waste."

"I don't give a fuck." Louis replies, surging up to kiss Nick fiercely. "Take me up to the bedroom. Boyfriend."

Nick's heart beats like a jackhammer in his chest, and he turns them around so he's got Louis pressed into the counter now, lifting him up onto it, kissing him harder than Louis had. He licks into Louis' mouth, and Louis accept his tongue readily, wrapping his legs around Nick's waist.

"I said bedroom... not counter..." Louis pants between kisses. "Fucking... take me to the bedroom."

Louis lets out a squeak when Nick lifts him from the counter, hands under his arse, and starts carrying him to the stairs. He's light, but Nick struggles on the stairs, almost toppling them over before finally getting them into the hallway and down into Nick's bedroom.

"Look at you, big strong man." Louis teases, crying out when nick drops him onto the bed with no warning. "Rude."

"Go fuck yourself." Nick says, voice fond as he tugs his shirt over his head.

"If you insist. But I thought I was fucking you." Louis replies, sitting up so he can get his own shirt off, then lying back down to tug off his joggers.

"Are you, now?" Nick replies, climbing back onto the bed, on top of Louis, once his jeans are lying on the ground with his t-shirt. "Presumptuous."

"Don't you want it Nick?" Louis says, blinking up at Nick innocently. Nick doesn't believe it for a moment. "I'd fuck you so good. Make you scream for me."

"Fuck sake." Nick huffs when Louis' hand sneaks down between them and squeezes Nick's half hard cock through his briefs. "Yeah, Lou, want it."

"Good boy." Louis says, getting his legs around Nick, flipping them over so he's on top. He leaves Nick panting in the sheets and climbs off the bed to get into the bedside table for the lube and a condom.

"How d'you want me?" Nick asks, lifting his hips to tug his briefs down, throwing them at the pile of clothes at the foot of his bed before sitting up.

"On your belly." Louis replies, climbing back onto the bed, kneeling precariously close to the edge. "So I can eat you out before I fuck you."

"Shit, Louis." Nick groans, flopping onto his stomach, taking a pillow from near his head and fitting it under his hips, spreading his thighs.

"Jesus, Nick." Louis says, voice soft with something like wonder, spreading Nick's thighs further, getting in between them. 

He noses his way down Nick's spine first, nipping at the skin of his hips and his arse cheeks. He sucks a mark into Nick's flesh, and Nick can't do anything but moan into the sheets. "Got this one right on your constellation freckles." Louis says, poking at the tender flesh. "Should make a constellation out of love bites, don't you think? Capricorn, like my Zodiac sign."

"God, you're a fucking dork." Nick replies breathlessly.

Louis bites at Nicks arse, just over the fresh bruise, and Nick groans. "Insults don't get my dick in you any quicker."

"Dork isn't an insult. It's a term of endearment." Nick replies, letting out a choked off moan when Louis finally gets his mouth on Nick's hole. "Oh, fucking Christ."

He tongues at the puckered skin, spreading Nick's cheeks with tight fingers. The roughness of Louis' beard against the sensitive flesh of Nick's thighs causes sparks of sensation to shoot up Nick's spine.

"Oh, fuck, Lou."

Louis gets Nick sopping wet with saliva, using the slick of it to fit his tongue through the first ring of muscle.

"Fuck, Louis, cmon, I don't wanna wait, get your fingers in me. I need your dick."

Louis pulls away with a slick, wet sound and a chuckle. "You're so fucking impatient.” There's the sound of a bottle cap opening, and then Louis presses his first finger inside Nick. "God, _fuck_ you're tight. I've only got one fucking finger in you."

Louis licks around his finger, which he's wriggling inside Nick, trying to find his prostate. When he does find it, he strokes it with his finger, over and over again until Nick's nearly incoherent with pleasure.

"God, Nick, you sound so fucking good. Can't wait to hear what you sound like with a cock splitting you open."

Louis fingers Nick quickly, from one, to two, and then three, until Nick's sufficiently stretched and whining.

"Want you on your back, Nick, c'mon, turn over." Louis tells Nick once his fingers are free, helping him turn over into his back, taking the pillow away and throwing it somewhere Nick doesn't care to think about. "Shit, Nick, you're so fucking hard."

"Get. In. Me." Nick says through heavy pants and gritted teeth, his heart beating hard like a hummingbird's wings.

"Demanding." Louis says with a short chuckle, finding the condom packet in the sheets and tearing it open, sloping the latex into his cock. "If I'd known you'd be like this with the promise of dick, I'd have fucked you much earlier."

"Y'know, I'll get more and more demanding the longer it takes you to get your cock in me, right?"

"Needy." Louis says, getting in between Nick's spread thighs again, with his cock held in his hand.

"Damn fucking right."

Louis laughs, moving Nick's thigh a little further apart and pressing the head of his cock to Nick's hole. "I like this side of you." He says before finally pushing in.

Nick hasn't bottomed in so long that it hurts when the thick head of Louis' cock pushes through. After a while, the pain blossoms into something much more pleasurable, heat spreading through Nick's entire body like honey; thick and sweet.

"Fuck, Jesus _Christ_ , Nick." Louis moans, eyes squeezed shut, fingers digging into Nick's hips, sliding into him until his pelvis is pressed into Nick's arse.

"C'mon, pet, fuck me."

And so Louis does, sliding his cock out of Nick until only the head's left in, thrusting back into him until Nick's breath is knocked out of him; in and out and in and out. Nick's blood feels like liquid fire in his veins.

"You feel so good, love, gonna make me come so quick." Louis groans, blinking his eyes open and looking down at Nick, the blue swallowed by the black of his pupils.

"You're so fucking _pretty_ , Lou." Nick says, breath hitching on a moan. "Want you to come for me. Want you to come in me."

Neither of them last very long, coming within moments of each other, Louis, then Nick, completely untouched. Louis collapses on top of Nick in the aftermath, pressing wet, warm kisses to Nicks jaw and throats while Nick pants heavily.

"You good?" Louis asks softly, climbing up onto his elbows, staring down at Nick.

"So good." Nick answers, blinking slowly up at Louis, bleary-eyed and exhausted, but feeling so _fucking_ good.

Louis presses a soft, slow kiss to Nick's mouth before pulling his softening cock from him, climbing up onto his knees.

"Where're you going?" Nick asks softly, eyes fluttering closed, and then open, and then closed again. "Come back here."

"Clingy." Louis says with a chuckle, pressing one last kiss to Nick's lips. "I'm just going to get something to clean us up. I'll be right back." He slides off the bed and disappears from the room.

When he returns, he cleans Nick's skin of come, and then curls into his arms, kissing him softly, languidly.

"That was pretty wonderful." Nick says, slow like molasses, fingers tracing patterns into Louis' shoulder, eyes still closed.

"It was, wasn't it?" Louis replies with a soft chuckle, kissing Nick again. "So wonderful. You're wonderful."

Nick doesn't get a chance to reply before he's asleep.


	11. Chapter 11

Nick wakes on his back, with Louis under his arm, pressed along his side, his face nestled into the crook of his armpit. He's snoring- not very loudly- but snoring nonetheless, and Nick makes a mental note to tease him about it later. His eyes are moving about behind his eyelids, and his legs keep twitching where they're curled around Nick's. Nick's reminded of the dogs when they sleep.

Louis' skin is too warm, and sweat slicks them together where they're connected, and not in the fun way, but Nick doesn't mind. It's slightly uncomfortable, but he thinks he'd be more uncomfortable out of Louis' arms.

"You're thinking too loud." Louis says softly, voice gruff. So, not asleep, then. Nick wonders why he was twitching. He shifts closer to Nick and digs his fingers into Nick's hip until it tickles, his hard-on pressed into Nick's side. "Go back to sleep."

"Your snoring's keeping me up, pet." Nick teases, placing his hand on Louis' shoulder blade, sliding it down his skin to the curve of his spine.

"Get stuffed, I don't snore." Louis replies, digging his fingers into Nick's hip until his nails cut into the skin. "If anyone in this bed snores it's you."

As if to counter Louis' statement, Pig lets out a loud snort from where she, Stinky, Belle and Hazel are curled by Nick and Louis' feet.

"Pig disagrees."

"Pig disagrees with everything. She's stubborn like her knob head dad." Louis says, nipping at the skin of Nick's pec, mouth stretching into a wide grin, eyes still closed.

"Insults aren't going to get your erection taken care of." Nick says, a parody of Louis' words the night before.

"Who says I want _you_ to take care of it?" Louis replies, hand sliding down Nick's skin towards his cock, missing it by mere millimetres, taking his own cock in it. "I'll take care of it myself."

Nick decides he doesn't like the sound of that and dives on top of Louis, shocking the dogs awake, causing them to bark and jump off the bed, leaving the room while Nick kisses Louis.

"I'm gonna fuck you, Lou, get my dick in you so you'll never want any other." Nick says, nipping at the scruff on Louis' jaw while Louis whines and digs his nails into Nick's back. "Think I could make you scream?"

A phone starts ringing very suddenly on the bedside table and Nick decides he has absolutely no patience for whoever's on the other end. He's never hated the fact that he and Louis aren't the only people on the planet more.

"God _fucking_ dammit." Nick groans, reaching over for Louis's phone, answering it with, "He's busy at the moment," not caring who it is.

Luckily it's Liam, and not some producer or manager, or someone as equally professional.

"Nick, hello, is Louis there? I need to speak to him, tell him it's very important."

"Louis'.... occupied." Nick replies, swallowing the groan that threatens to spill from his lips when Louis sucks a mark into Nick's throat. "He can't come to the phone right now."

"You need to tell him that the press know about Jay." Liam answers, voice full of emotion, and that makes Nick stop for a moment.

"Who's Jay?" Nick asks Louis, hand covering the phone's receiver.

Louis stops his ministrations on Nick's skin and takes the phone from Nick. "What's going on? Okay, shit, okay, I'm getting ready now. Do Dan and Lottie know? Do you know who did it? No? Okay. Give me half an hour." Louis hangs up the phone and pushes Nick off him so he can climb out of the bed, face pinched as he searches for clothes.

"Lou, what's wrong?" Nick asks, sitting up.

"I gotta go do something." Louis says, pulling on a clean pair of Nick's underwear and a pair of his own jeans. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Louis, please tell me what's happening."

Louis looks at him once he's pulled on one of Nick's sweaters, mouth drawn into a tight line. "Someone told The Sun my mum's dead."

"Your what is what?"

"We were keeping it a secret from the press, for Doris & Ernest and Daisy & Phoebe." Louis replies, distracted, shoving his phone into his back pocket, searching around the room for something else.

"Lou, your mum's dead? Why didn't you tell me?"

Louis looks back at Nick, sighs, and says, "I don't have time for this."

"Louis, why didn't you tell me?" Nick repeats, a little more forcefully. "That's the kind of thing you tell your boyfriend."

"For fuck's sake, would you drop it? Don't you ever quit?" Louis cries, eyes suddenly filled with tears.

"Lou, pet, c'mere." Nick says softly, holding his hands out for Louis, which he takes, clambering up into Nick's lap, pressing his wet face into Nick's shoulder while Nick wraps his arms around him. "I'm sorry, Lou, I shouldn't have forced you."

"I shouldn't have yelled at you." Louis says, voice hitching as he cried. "I'm sorry. I'm just... scared." He says it quietly, so quiet Nick almost doesn't hear it, almost like a secret, and maybe it is. "I didn't tell you because I was scared."

"Scared of what, pet?" Nick asks, rubbing his hand over Louis's] back soothingly. "Scared of me? I don't want you to ever feel scared of me."

"No, not that, it's just... hard. It's just hard. To talk about."

"I know, sweetheart." Nick replies, kissing the top of Louis' head. "I want you to stay right here, okay? And I'm gonna get dressed and make us some tea in those travel mugs you got me, and then I'm gonna go with you, okay? You don't have to go this alone."

"You don't have to." Louis says, blinking up at Nick. His eyes are rimmed red and shining. Before Nick can argue that he wants to, Louis says, "But I want you to, if you want to."

"Okay, give me ten minutes and we'll go." Nick says, helping Louis out of his lap and sliding off the bed to get dressed.

He makes two mugs of tea, one with sugar and without milk, and one without sugar and with milk, pouring them into travel mugs and leaving them by the hallway door with his keys before climbing the stairs to get Louis. 

He's curled into a tight ball in the middle of the mattress, and it makes Nick's heart hurt, how small he looks. Louis' never small. He's loud and boisterous and funny and cheeky, and he might be short and thin, but he's _never small_.

Nick gets his phone and wallet from the bedside table, shoving them into his hoodie pocket before leaning over Louis and brushing his fringe from his eyes. "C'mon baby, it's time to go."

Louis blinks bleary eyes up at Nick and nods, pushing himself up until he's sitting, holding his arms out to Nick like a child who wants to be picked up. Nick does so, his arms under Louis's arse, and Louis wraps his legs around Nick's waist, and his arms around Nick's neck.

"Just to the door, sweetheart. The press will be outside." Nick says, rubbing his face against Louis', where it's nestled in his shoulder.

Nick only stumbles once on the way downstairs, before dropping Louis onto his feet at the front door and kneeling down to get their shoes on. 

There are paparazzi out the front like Nick suspected, both at Nick’s front gate and Louis', but the ones at Louis' hurry to Nick's when they catch sight of them, camera flashing and voices yelling.

They can't go past the gate- they know that- and it makes getting Louis into the car in the driveway a lot easier, before he turns to them and says, "Please keep out of the driveway, I don't want anyone to get hurt."

Nick has to text Liam to find out where they're going, because Louis' completely unresponsive. Liam tells him that everyone's at Jesy and Leigh-Anne's apartment, and sends him the address, so he can put it into Google Maps.

"Drink your tea, Lou." Nick tells Louis, taking the mug of milky, sugarless tea from the cup holder, handing it to him and watching as he takes a sip. "There you go, pet." He says softly, squeezing Louis' shoulder before sliding his hand to curl his fingers in Louis', on his thigh. "Almost there."

"I think I'm gonna be sick." Louis says. "Seriously, I think I'm gonna puke."

And he does look a little green around the edges, so Nick pulls off the highway as he says, "Okay, I'll pull over."

When Nick stops the car, Louis climbs out and socks up on the curb before Nick can even get the ignition off.

Nick slides out of the car, too, and races around to the other side, to Louis, to rub at his back and run his fingers through Louis's sweaty fringe while he vomits.

"If they... followed... there'll be pictures... I don't want-"

"It's alright, pet, don't think about it, just let it all out." Nick replies soothingly, voice soft, lifting his head to look around. They're in the warehouse district, off the Thames, and the street is completely desolate, not a single car in sight, occupied or otherwise. "There's no one here, Lou, you're fine."

When Louis stops vomiting, they get back into the car (sans one travel mug, which is left in broken, jagged pieces of ceramic in a pool of tea and sick on the side of the road), they drive to the nearest petrol station so Nick can get a bottle of water and mouthwash so Louis can clean his mouth in the public toilets.

"How do you feel?" Nick asks once Louis reappears from the bathroom, wiping his mouth with his sleeve.

"Better." Louis says, nodding his head and handing the water bottle and mouthwash back to Nick. Nick doesn't know if he's saying that for Nick's benefit, if he's really any better, but his skin isn't an alarming combination of sickly green and ghostly pale anymore. "Thank you."

"That's alright, sweetheart." Nick replies, pulling Louis in for a hug, kissing the top of his head. "Ready to start driving again?"

Louis nods, and they go back to the car.

"My mum had leukaemia." Louis says before Nick's turned on the ignition, voice so soft and quiet, Nick almost misses it. "She died two and a half weeks before Christmas, about a month before the album was supposed to originally come out."

"And just before your birthday." Nick says, voice soft, heart aching as he remembers the day Louis had told Nick when his birthday was, how his face had gotten pinched like he'd been in pain, and he'd changed the subject.

"Yeah." Louis replies, nodding his head. "We saw it coming, she'd been sick for months, but it still..."

"Hurt."

Louis nods, and tears prick at his eyes. Nick takes his hand and lifts it to his mouth, kissing the back of it. "I didn't tell you because it freaks people out, and I couldn’t have you leaving, I don't think I could've taken it. I'm already too invested.”

"You're not the only one." Nick replies kissing Louis's knuckles. "I think I'm in love with you, and this is probably the worst time to say it, but I need you to know it."

Louis turns to look at Nick, cheeks red, eyes watery, and says, "Please don't leave me."

Nick pulls him in for a tight hug, as best he can over the car console, and presses a kiss into Louis's hair. "Never. I'm not going anywhere, ever."


	12. Epilogue

"We've got a special surprise co-host on the show today." Nick says, adjusting his microphone and smirking at Louis across the desk. "Because Harry and Fiona decided to invite him on without even telling me. It's Louis Tomlinson from Complex Narcissism, everyone! Hello, Louis Tomlinson."

Louis grins at Nick. "Hello, Nicholas Grimshaw."

"So I woke up to get ready for work this morning, and usually Louis' in bed for another hour or so, and he gets up, has tea and breakfast with me, gets dressed with me, then hops in me car without saying a word, and I turn to him, I say _do you want me to take you somewhere?_ And Louis says-"

" _Yeah, to the Beebs, thanks_." Louis interrupts, laughing.

"And I'm thinking, _what's he going to the Beebs for?_ But I take him anyway, and he comes up with me, disappears for a mo to talk to Fiona, and then he comes back and sits at the studio desk, all without telling me anything." Nick turns to Harry and rolls his eyes at him. "Then just as the last song finished, he looks at me and says _by the way, Harry and Fiona asked me to co-host for an hour_. Goddamn."

Everyone's laughing and Nick pokes his tongue out at Louis.

"Nonetheless, it's good to have you on the show, Louis." Harry says, a friendly smile turned toward the man.

"Why don't we put a song on? How about _Television_ , in honour of our esteemed guest. An oldie but a goodie."

"Esteemed, huh?" Louis says with an amused smile before Nick flicks on the song and they all turn off their microphones.

Nick grins. "C'mere you silly fuck."

Louis climbs out of his chair and into Nick's lap, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

"Oi, no canoodling in the studio!" Fiona laughs from the producer’s box while Harry rolls his eyes at them.

"What d'you want for lunch?" Nick asks, as Louis rests his forearm over Nick's shoulder, leaning back into him. "I was thinking maybe La Collina? Take it back home and have that _Harry Potter_ marathon we keep forgetting to do?"

Louis smiles softly and nods his head. "Sounds good. Gotta get some more clothes from my place first."

"Or we could always move in together." Nick says offhandedly. He means it mostly as a joke, but also, it feels kinda right.

Louis's smile goes even softer and he kisses Nick's cheek again. "We'll talk about it later, yeah?"

Nick agrees.

The song ends, and Harry turns on his microphone first, to say, "You guys should probably know that Louis and Nick are currently being very gross and mushy and I think I want to quit. Louis decided he didn't like his seat and is now currently using Nick as one."

Louis and Nick laugh, and don't bother denying.

Louis stays in his lap for most of his hour, but he gets up eventually for a loo break, and Nick stretches out his stiff legs while _His_ plays.

He notices Will come into the studio and begin setting up a camera and says, "What are you doing?"

Will shushes him, grinning and Nick frowns at him and shakes his head, amused.

When Louis appears again, just before the song's ended, he doesn't sit in Nick's lap again (which he admits he's kinda upset about), but he doesn't sit in the one on the other side of the table either, he just sort of stands next to Will and the camera, a microphone pulled towards him.

"And that was Him by Katy Perry." Harry says, grinning at Louis with a conspiratorial look in his eyes. "Now, I know you're all wondering why Louis' actually in the studio today; especially you, Nick."

"Uh-huh." Nick replies, nodding his head.

"So, Louis called me last Thursday, and he asked if I'd ask Fiona if she'd let him on the show sometime this week. He explained why, and of course I had to help him." Harry says, and he's grinning now, so bright and wide it's almost funny. "I think I'll let Louis take over now."

"Why do I feel like this is a prank I'm not going to like?" Nick jokes, a little scared it might actually be.

"It's not, I swear." Louis says, reaching into his hoodie pocket for a small burgundy box.

"Oh, crap." Nick whispers as understanding days on him. "Oh, crap." 

He turns and looks at Harry, who's grinning like an absolute fool, and then at Fiona and Will and the crowd of people who've gathered behind the window into the hallway.

"Oh, fuck."

Louis drops to one knee in front of Nick, and Will carefully adjusts the microphone so it's close to his mouth.

"Nick."

"Yes?"

Louis lets out a soft, find sigh, smiling. "Nick, you're an arsehole."

"Thanks."

"Shut up, I'm talking." The spectators all laugh, and Louis grins. Nick thinks if he even cracks a smile he'll start crying. "Nick, babe, you're an arsehole, and you're so bloody argumentative, you steal all the covers on the bed, and if you keep feeding the dogs as much as you do they're all gonna get fat. You hog the TV remote and make me watch hours of RuPaul's and The Bake Off, and you always fall asleep on the couch, so I have to practically carry you back to bed." 

Louis pauses and looks down at the box in his hand like he's composing himself.

Nick's heart feels like it might beat straight out of his chest.

"Sometimes you make me so angry I just wanna rip my hair out, but I still love you. I love you, because you make me tea in the morning and you kiss me before bed, and you tell awful jokes I only laugh at because they're so bad."

"They aren't that bad." Nick protests, eyes stinging with the effort of holding the tears back. He's given up on holding his smile back, and now it's taken over his face.

"They are so awful." Louis laughs, eyes wet. "And I love you because you know when I need someone to tell me I'm being mental. I love you because you're kind and you're intelligent, and you're, god, you're so fucking hot."

Nick laughs wetly and wipes at his eyes. There go the tears.

"Nick, I love you, because I've never met anyone like you. No one has or will ever come close. And I was wondering, if you would marry me?"

The tears spill down his cheeks and he has to wipe them away so he can see the ring nestled in the little burgundy box. It's gold and wrapped in Celtic knots and it's so beautiful Nick thinks he just might cry some more.

He nods first, because he doesn't know if he can speak, and then he whispers, "Yes. God, yes. Yes."

Louis' smile's so wide Nick thinks he might crack his face in half, and he lunges towards Nick, kissing him so hard there might be bruises later.

There's clapping and cheering but Nick can barely hear it. It's background noise. Nick and Louis are in their own little world together.

Louis eventually slips the ring onto Nick's finger, and Harry queues up three or four songs to give them some privacy.

"You're fucking mad." Nick says, almost disbelieving, staring down at the ring, tracing the knots with his thumb. "You are absolutely mental."

"Good, we match." Louis replied, grinning tearfully. "Your crazy matches my crazy."

"I love you so goddamned much, Louis Tomlinson."

Louis kisses Nick again. "I love you so goddamned much, too, Nicholas Grimshaw." 

They kiss for so long it feels like an eternity, before there's a knock on the door and Harry apologies as he shuffles in.

"Oh, and by the way," Louis says to Nick, just before the last song ends. "I would definitely love to move in with you."

Nick's so happy he thinks he might fucking burst.


End file.
